Furry Beast
by Reboo
Summary: Noin makes a friend after a bad evening at home.


The Furry Beast  
Rebecca L. Ward  
Email: victus@oz.zzn.com  
  
Lucrezia sat idly quiet when her father wrenched her little sister from her position hollering at her for having not eaten her dinner. Lucrezia could not believe that it was happening again. She felt herself loosen up, and wanted to cry, but stifled the urge of such an action, it would be weak, and weakness got you hurt in her household. He wrenched her sister by her arm, screaming and kicking, up the stairs all the way to her crib, and locked the door. 'It'll all be over soon,' the girl thought, 'it can't last much longer, can it?' The man completely ignored his daughter's screams and came down the stairs in a rush. Upon seeing his nephew standing on the chair beside Lucrezia, he took him and threw him onto the ground. The onlookers attempted nothing, simply praying to avoid the old man's wrath while the little boy lay bawling on the ground. There was nothing they could do.  
  
Lucrezia couldn't believe it, as she stared at her nephew, if she had made her nephew sit down he wouldn't be lying on the floor crying then and now. Silently she cursed her stupidity, and lack of actions. She needed to escape, the house was always a trap now, but escaping was risky because when you came home you got yelled at for not being home. It was strange that way.  
  
Noticing the utensils on the ground the man picked them up, and with fierceness slammed them into the table. "He is not allowed to throw things or stand on chairs," he bellowed slamming a cup into the table as he did so, almost as though it the action was only to accentuate his anger. The women cringed. Then he left the room in a quiet reverie like not a thing had happened. All the women in the dining room simply sat there in silent terror not wanting to awaken the behemoth again. The silence however was not shared by everyone as an ill mannered boy, began to chat. Everyone upon having heard him, shut him up quickly, and sent him along to his room with a stern warning.  
  
Silently little Lucrezia stood and left the table tossing on her hooded jacket, and taking a pen and paper with her as she left. Walking outside she could still hear the cries of her little sister from her upstairs room, and shuddered. She walked on farther and then took to wandering about one part of her huge backyard. It seemed like it took hours, but the little girl in the upstairs room quieted. Lucrezia looked up quickly at the lack of noise to see if everything was all right and relaxed a little as it seemed her sister had cried herself to sleep. Walking around she remembered a dog in the clearing not too far away so she headed for it; maybe she could play with the dog. Upon reaching the clearing and seeing the dog she dared not approach it. It was huge and she had never been one for dogs to begin with. It turned out to be a sweet Alaskan husky whose barks for attention did not disturb Lucrezia's silent reverie as she decided to leave the dog alone and write to calm her nerves. She sat and wrote what had happened and what she was doing. It had an almost calming effect on her. She had started writing after her father's outbursts had begun and was now continuing to do so simply to relieve some stress.  
  
After writing some more notes curiosity took her over and she began to approach the dog without fear now, knowing the true feeling of terror one could behold, and this was nothing compared to it. A dog simply couldn't bring the terror her father did. To her the fear of the dog was a fear of the unknown. Her father hadn't liked animals so they didn't have any. They always seemed to fascinate her in a way, no matter what her lack of experience in dealing with them was. She stood there for a moment terrified however as she looked at the white dog whose wild appearance seemed to entrance her and yet at the same time bring about a sense of fear. The dog began to jump about her and fearfully she backed away. Realizing her error she knew she shouldn't have been afraid of that beautiful creature, whose might was masked only carelessly by its beauty. Somewhere she had read that dogs could smell fear, which did nothing to calm her nerves as the idea fully surfaced. 'Would he attack?' Slowly she put her hand out palm up, as she had been taught, and began to walk closer to it. Lucrezia was tempted to pull her hand back several times as the dog came forward, and he licked it, but she held her ground, wanting to make a friend in this beast. She started to laugh as the dog tickled her hand, it tickled tremendously, and silently she wondered whether she was laughing because of relief or delight. Putting out both hands she stood there and let the dog lick her hands and bare legs.   
  
This feeling brought upon her was new, and greatly appreciated. Life currently brought nothing but hurt most of the time. The relief was nice. She was always had to hide her emotions. Displays of them made you weak, so she hid them as often as possible. Her friends were never true friends, and that made the need for emotions less as well. There was always the part about her trying to find herself as well. Lucrezia found her solitude to be quite enjoyable in a reflective way. She was always surrounded by noise; everywhere there was noise. 'Dreadful noise,' she thought.  
  
Gently she reached out to pet him, but he wouldn't let her just yet. 'He must be nervous' she guessed basing her inference upon her own feelings. Suddenly he stopped licking and started to lead her somewhere. Obligingly, she followed him. He had led her to where his water was supposed to be. Only the water was empty. 'What a smart dog.'  
  
Seeing the poor thing's predicament she ran up to the house and brought him back some water twice watching as the dog eagerly lapped it all up. After that the dog let her pet him, and cautiously she did so, staring at the dog, finding comfort by simply being with someone she now considered a friend, even after a such a short time. Slowly she sat down on the ground beside the dog, and began to pet his scruffy, puffy main. As she got up to leave however, feeling a new sense of peace about her he came up and rubbed into her leg. Sighing she petted him back and decided to stay a little longer. She didn't really want to go in anyway so she sat back down and began to stroke him, but after a while he moved away and sat across from her, staring at her as if trying to decipher her.  
  
'I think I've made a new friend indeed,' Lucrezia thought. 'A new best friend, a savior from that ugly house that holds pain and joy alike, but oh so little joy.' "You're a sweet puppy, you know that," she said talking directly to the dog. 'I love the little fellow now, even if I still am a little afraid of him.' she thought. The puppy came back over and started to lick the itches on her legs feeling her apprehension of leaving. Taking a good look outside Lucrezia now realized it was pitch black, but somehow couldn't or wouldn't remember when the change from light to dark had happened. She scratched his itches back and looked at him, feeling his pain as well. They were both caged in their own way. The mosquitoes had bitten her legs raw, 'at least the dog is lucky enough to have fur to protect him,' she thought, while absentmindedly running her fingers through his thick bunch of hair.   
  
"It pains me to have to go inside, you know that fellow," she asked the dog, cradaling his face in her hands. "You completely sidetracked me." She added rubbing his neck. "I came out here with the intent of writing and didn't get much done." It saddened her to have to leave him behind, but she could no longer see what she wrote or even that there was a pen in her hand. She went and got one more drink of water for the dog, then left the dog alone.   
  
'I leave to go inside to face the unknown terrors lurking in the shadow of my own home.' she wrote before coming inside, and put her paper and pen cautiously away.   
  
When she came back inside she was greeted with what looked like a normal house. Her sister was once more down stairs, and her father sat the computer, calm at that, and not that ice-cold calm that would send shivers down your back, that deathly calm. She murmured a silent 'god bless thee' and headed up to her room unnoticed by her family members downstairs.  
  



End file.
